St. Petersburg's Cathedral Destroyed

A fire raged in a 19th Century cathedral in St. Petersburg Friday evening, bringing down the main cupola on top of the stately church in Russia’s former Imperial capital.The fire erupted in the early evening and burned through scaffolding beneath the soaring blue central dome of Trinity Cathedral, a duty officer at the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said.The central dome collapsed and one of five smaller cupolas surrounding it was also destroyed by the fire, St. Petersburg emergency department spokeswoman Lyudmila Rubasova said.Firefighters were trying to save the other three domes as emergency workers and church employees removed icons and other religious articles from the Russian Orthodox cathedral, which was built in 1835 and is considered an architectural monument. The fire was contained after 20-00 Moscow time, the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reported. Hundreds of people gathered at the landmark site, which recently underwent restoration.An Emergency Situations Ministry Mi-8 helicopter was called in to tackle the flames, emergency services said earlier.